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Plunge   /pləndʒ/   Listen
noun
Plunge  n.  
1.
The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge.
2.
Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. (R.) "She was brought to that plunge, to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son." "And with thou not reach out a friendly arm, To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows?"
3.
The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.
4.
Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. (Cant)
Plunge bath, an immersion by plunging; also, a large bath in which the bather can wholly immerse himself.
Plunge battery, or plunging battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.


verb
Plunge  v. t.  (past & past part. plunged; pres. part. plunging)  
1.
To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse; to cause to penetrate or enter quickly and forcibly; to thrust; as, to plunge the body into water; to plunge a dagger into the breast. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge a nation into war. "To plunge the boy in pleasing sleep." "Bound and plunged him into a cell." "We shall be plunged into perpetual errors."
2.
To baptize by immersion.
3.
To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. (Obs.) "Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca."


Plunge  v. i.  
1.
To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt. "Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea." "To plunge into guilt of a murther."
2.
To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does. "Some wild colt, which... flings and plunges."
3.
To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. (Cant)
Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Plunge" Quotes from Famous Books



... and waste of it. Norah declared that it was so, and it looked like it. And more than anything it showed where my poor Viola had got to. It was so unlike her to lie, so unlike her to stand aside, where you would have thought she would have most wanted to plunge in; the calculation and the indifference both were so beyond her that you could only think one thing: she hated it; she hated the new turn his prosperity had taken; she almost hated him because of it; and her heart was broken because of Reggie, ...
— The Belfry • May Sinclair
... a narrow bridle path which admitted only one man at a time. They were then compelled to gather their horses and leap into the river, over the bluff about four feet high. Horse and man would generally be submerged by the plunge—a cold bath very unpleasant in such weather. The ascent on the other side was nearly as difficult. In a little while the passage of the horses rendered the approach to the river even more difficult. The ford ...
— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke
... the bull locked horns, after the latter had again gained his feet, his tremendous bulk pushed Apollo back, at the first onset; but they noticed a peculiar tactic on the part of Apollo. The latter at each forward plunge twisted his head, first to the right, and then to the left, as though he was boring his way in. This was an astonishing thing to the stranger. This was done by Apollo over and over again, and now, every time they met, and the twisting ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island • Roger Thompson Finlay
... of taking a morning bath is to be preferred to the plunge into a tub filled with cold water. While persons with very strong constitutions may experience no ill effects, to those who are weak and do not react readily, the cold plunge might prove a severe shock and ...
— Nature Cure • Henry Lindlahr
... ascending to the surface except when work took them there. Since for most of them this was the sort of life to which they had been born, they found no great misery in such circumstances; but for people like Denton and Elizabeth, such a plunge would have seemed more terrible ...
— Tales of Space and Time • Herbert George Wells


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